 Here's one many readers will remember: In 1960, John Kennedy beat Richard Nixon 303-219, and the popular vote was separated by mere fractions, making the election one of the closest in history. Kennedy won both contests by the slightest of margins to land at No. 2.

 Forty years later, the presidency was in doubt like never before. In 2000, George Bush and Al Gore played starring roles in the closest presidential election in U.S. history.

Bush took the election with 271 to 266 electoral votes, and he became the first president to lose the popular vote - by a narrow one half of 1 percent - and still win the White House since Benjamin Harrison won more electoral votes than did an apparently more popular Grover Cleveland in 1888.